‘It brings me right back’: Sandy Hook mom reflects on eerie similarities in Texas school massacre
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) – For Michele Gay, the horror of the massacre at Robb Elementary is almost uncanny to the worst day of her life — Dec. 14, 2012.
“I am back in time. I am right there with them,” Gay said.
On that chilly winter morning, a gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School, shooting and killing 20 students and six teachers.
Gay’s daughter, Josephine, was killed just three days after her 7th birthday.
“I am thinking about the families walking through these moments that I remember so well. I had just dropped Joey off at school,” Gay recalled.
Less than two hours after she dropped her youngest off at school that day in 2012, she would get an automated call from the district that the schools were in lock down.
Michele rushed to the fire department, where students and teachers were going for safety. Gay quickly located her two oldest daughters- one who was at Sandy Hook in fourth grade.
But hours and hours passed — and 7-year-old Joey never showed up. Early in the hours of Saturday morning, Michele got official word her daughter died in the massacre.
Michele since has channeled her grief and anger into improving safety and security in schools and communities across the country, co-founding Safe and Sound Schools.
With at least 21 dead in this latest tragedy, Michelle said it’s proof that she, along with the rest of the nation, has a lot of work to do — in improving gun safety laws and shedding light on mental health issues.
“Josephine is such an inspiration to us, on days like today and yesterday where you cannot help but think, am I making a difference? Is all of this work for not? Should I give up?” Gay said.
She hopes one day the grieving community and families in Southern Texas will be able to channel their energy into the fight she and hundreds of other parents are still fighting.
In a few weeks, Michele along with others from Safe and Sound Schools will visit the grieving Texas community.
